Auxiliary Numidian Cavalry

Auxiliary Numidian Cavalry were units of Numidians (people from present-day Algeria and Tunisia) recruited as missile cavalry by the Roman Republic and Roman Empire as auxiliaries. The Numidians were great horsemen, and they were able to strike quickly with javelins and withdraw just as fast.

History
Numidian tribesmen were raised with horses from an early age, riding bareback without a bridle and controlling their horses by tapping the beasts between the ears with a stick. Numidian cavalry were supremely agile, skirmishing with assured expertise before swinging around to escape as rapidly as they had arrived. Wearing only a thin tunic, they carried javelins and small wicker shields. At Cannae, the highpoint of Carthaginian military success, Hannibal’s right wing consisted of 3,500 Numidian cavalrymen. The Numidians attacked the Romans' allied cavalry and chased them from the field before returning to smash into the rear of the Roman lines. Considered the elite of the Carthaginian army during the Second Punic War, the Numidians' defection before the Battle of Zama arguably led to Scipio’s victory over Hannibal in the final stages of the conflict.